Global One Health Fellow Spotlight – Chenxing Xie
Each year, the Global One Health Academy funds an exceptional group of graduate students with One Health related research interests. During their one-year appointment, the Global One Health Fellows are offered many opportunities, such as professional development workshops, networking with One Health professionals and more! Chenxing Xie was a member of our first cohort of fellows, recently defended her PhD in Communication, Rhetoric, and Digital Media, and now works as an assistant professor at the University of Cincinnati!
What do you research?
My research interest is situated at the intersection of health communication, transnational communication, and risk communication. I am currently conducting research on transnational risk communication of long COVID. Specifically, I explore how patient advocates across different countries collectively create knowledge about long COVID and communicate with experts and policymakers to contribute to the legitimacy of this emerging, complex medical condition.
What are the implications of your research, and how does it fit into the One Health framework?
My study provides theoretical frameworks and practical implications for empowering vulnerable, at-risk patient populations to create and communicate knowledge to inform policymaking about future emerging medical conditions at both national and transnational levels. My theoretical and practical implications can be extended to fit in the One Health framework. For instance, my research features transnational risk communication theories that can provide a unique transnational perspective to accommodate One Health’s need to address global issues. The practical implications of my research on coordinating different stakeholders can also be used to guide the coordination of public health, veterinary, ecology, and environmental science experts, local communities, and policymakers when solving One Health issues.
What/who inspired you to pursue this field of study?
I witnessed the SARS outbreak as an elementary school kid. Years later, I also experienced the H1N1 epidemic and later the COVID-19 pandemic. These experiences with pandemics fueled my interest in health risk communication and inspired my passion for exploring transnational health risk communication about the long-term sequel of COVID, the long COVID.
What do you view as a critical global challenge in One Health, and how could your discipline contribute to addressing it?
One of the biggest challenges when addressing global One Health issues is negotiating with different stakeholders. As technical communicators, we can provide rhetorical strategies for One Health researchers to effectively communicate their knowledge and research findings and persuade local communities, policymakers, or even transnational stakeholders from different sociocultural contexts to take action to address One Health issues.
How has the Global One Health Fellowship helped shape your career trajectory?
The professional development workshops and the One Health Research Symposium offered us great networking opportunities with scholars from other fields. It was eye-opening for me to learn how scholars approach One Health issues across various fields. I believe such horizon-broadening exposure can enlighten my future studies.
What was your favorite part of the Global One Health Fellowship?
I really enjoyed our weekly seminar in the first semester. During this seminar, we got the chance to discuss our research in our interdisciplinary cohort. I received invaluable feedback from my mentors and colleagues in ecology, engineering, and science that I can employ to enrich my future studies in health risk communication.
What are your next steps?
I recently joined the English Department at the University of Cincinnati as an assistant professor of technical and professional communication. I am looking forward to continuing researching transnational health risk communication and integrating the One Health framework into my future work!
Anything else you would like to share?
In my spare time, I love traveling and exploring new places and cultures with my family!
